A family from Tenterden have told how they were attacked by wild dogs while on holiday in Greece.

Stamatis Kapetanios, 52, was walking on a dormant volcano near Athens with his son Danny, niece Roxy and nephew Teddy when they were surrounded by 15 Rhodesian ridgebacks.

Mr Kapetanios sustained potentially life-changing injuries to his left arm after trying to fight off the pack and defend the children, armed only with his backpack and some water bottles.

“They knocked me to the ground and began biting,” Mr Kapetanios told MailOnline.

“I thought I was going to die.

“I kept asking myself: 'How can this possibly be the end?' I was losing the will to live. I felt I didn't have any power.”

After mutilating Mr Kapetanios’ ear and left arm, the dogs set upon the children.

Danny, nine, and Roxy, 11, were bitten on their elbows and behinds, while Teddy, nine, was able to escape serious injury.

Danny also sustained scratches to his torso, abdomen and back, during the attack two weeks ago.

"I thought I was going to die..."

“When I saw the children around 30m behind me, it filled me with a reason to keep going," Mr Kapetanios said. "It gave me some kind of divine power.”

Mr Kapetanios managed to scare off the animals and get his children back to the safety of their car.

He drove one-handed to the A&E where he underwent hours of surgery and received 50 stitches.

After a six-day hospital stay, Mr Kapetanios, along with his wife Alison, are now suing 'all parties responsible’ for the incident, after it emerged police were reportedly aware of the pack's presence months ago and had reported them to the authority.

“I feel that things could have gone much worse,” Mr Kapetanios told the BBC.

“Something has to change about the way stray dogs are treated here in Greece.”